


regression

by Anonymous



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Disordered Eating, Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 03:52:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15186170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Tahani comes back from from a two-week vacation with her family a little worse for wear. She falls back into old patterns, and it's up to Eleanor to help ease her out of them.





	regression

"Hey Shellstrop, you gay right?"

Eleanor grunts at Sharon, her co-worker, before flipping a burger patty. "Yeah? And?"

"Okay, so I just decided that I'm a little gay, just like, right now." Sharon crosses her arms on the counter to Eleanor's left. "Came back from my 15-minute break, saw this smoking hot chick ordering a McFlurry in this weirdly sexy British accent, got this epiphany that, yeah, I definitely needed to hit that. So like, how do you flirt with girls? Gotta be harder than guys, right? Any tips?"

Eleanor turns to her, waving her spatula in the air. "Alright, first of all, what was this chick like? Mile-long legs, perfect brown skin, face like an angel, dresses in pastel/floral like she's at some four year-old's tea party?"

"Um, yeah?"

Eleanor nods. "So, that's my girlfriend," she says, switching the stovetop off. "Sort of weird hearing that you wanna bone her, but I don't blame ya."

"Jesus, _that's_ your girlfriend?" Sharon shoots Eleanor a look with her eyebrows arching high. " _How?_ "

"What can I say?" Eleanor asks as she lays the last of the patties on their respective buns. "Girls can't get enough of me."

"Girl, I'm serious. No offense, but she looks like she models on the side, while you're basically a walking flannel closet with braces and a shaggy mane of hair that you _obviously_ cut yourself."

"Wow, okay, one, I am totally taking offense, you're lucky I'm above slapping a bitch, two, I'll have you know she kissed _me_ first." She cleans up, takes off her apron, hangs it, and starts walking towards the kitchen exit. "Tell the boss I'm taking my break early."

 

.

 

It doesn't take long for her to spot her girlfriend. It's a near-empty room, the calm before the storm that is dinner rush hour, and she's sitting at a table near the cashier stirring her dessert in a way that Eleanor can only describe as despondent. She's pretty sure it's slurry by now.

"Hey babe," she greets. She kisses Tahani on the cheek before taking the seat next to her. "What's up? You always wait for me in your car. And like, it's two hours 'til my shift ends."

"You didn't get text I sent you?"

"Uh, yeah," Eleanor says with a grimace, "I forgot to charge my phone. Sorry."

A corner of Tahani's mouth quirks up. "I figured." She smiles at Eleanor fondly, a sight that never fails to give her this warm fuzzy feeling in her chest, before she sighs and looks back at the melted McFlurry she still has in her hands. "I'll be staying with my family in the Bahamas for the next two weeks. My flight is tonight." Giving the slurry an unnecessarily aggravated stir, she adds: "They didn't even have the courtesy of giving me an adequate amount of time to prepare. They just texted me this morning."

"Fuckers," Eleanor responds with gusto. She hates Tahani's family. Her parents basically abandoned her in Bumfuck, Arizona to focus on her sister, and yet they still somehow have their criticizing, ungrateful claws latched onto her. Eleanor's parents may be free-loading druggies, but at least she's gotten free of them.

"Can't you just...not go?" She takes Tahani's hand, laces her fingers with hers. "You said it yourself, you always have your guard up when you're around them. You know they're not good for you."

"I...I have to. I haven't seen them in months. And I do miss them. At least, I think I do."

"Okay." Eleanor squeezes her hand. "I mean I still think it's totally bonkers that you want to be around them, but okay, whatever."

"If only I could disagree." Tahani laughs, albeit halfheartedly. Meeting Eleanor's eyes, she continues: "You know, I did come here with a purpose."

"A parting gift from me?" Eleanor asks, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Of a sort, yes, though not the type that I'm sure you have in mind." And then, like the tease she is, Tahani bites her lower lip and lets her voice drop to something husky and low: "Although I desperately want to."

"Jesus, Tahani," Eleanor groans, "you don't just do that to a girl, not when you're leaving her alone for two weeks."

"I'll make it up to you when I come back," her girlfriend promises with a smirk. "Anyhow, back to the matter at hand...do you have your hoodie with you?"

She thinks of the red Scorpi-otie jacket stuffed in her bag."Yeah, it's in my locker, why?"

"I'll, well, I'll miss you," Tahani answers softly, "and I wanted to bring something of yours with me."

Her heart does that warm fuzzy thing again. Fuck, she never knew she was such a softie. "Babe, of course. Lemme just get it." Eleanor makes to stand, before thinking better of it. Turning back to Tahani, she adds: "You know what, you should come with me. You've gotta meet Sharon."

Tahani arches a perfect eyebrow at Eleanor, even as she follows her as she rises from the table. "Not that I don't appreciate you introducing me to your co-workers, but why do I _gotta_?"

"You turned her gay, apparently." She takes the McFlurry that Tahani had abandoned at the table. It was still full, Eleanor notices—apparently her girlfriend had only ordered it so she could wait for her inside. With a nod of permission from Tahani, she starts eating it. "You shoulda seen her face when I said we were dating," Eleanor adds, words a little muddled by the plastic spoon in her mouth. "I wanna rub it in."

"I...well I suppose I'm flattered."

Eleanor makes a beeline for the kitchen, with Tahani trailing closely behind her. Sharon, who had been scrubbing a countertop, looks up when the duo pass through the door and immediately sends Eleanor a glare when she sees who she brought along with her.

"Tahani," Eleanor begins smugly, "this is Sharon. Sharon, this is my girlfriend, Tahani."

"A pleasure to meet you Sharon," Tahani says. She flashes her a disarmingly pretty smile, and Eleanor almost cackles at how fast Sharon colors.

"S-same to you, Tahani," her co-worker stutters, and it's totally worth the evil eye she gives Eleanor once Tahani's looked away.

"That was hilarious," Eleanor says once they're inside the locker room. She heads towards her own locker and begins fiddling with the lock.

"She was nice," Tahani comments. She's perched daintily on the bench near the door, her legs crossed at the ankle.

"She is, actually." The locker opens, and Eleanor makes quick work of rifling through her backpack for the hoodie. " I mean she bitches a _lot_ , but she showed me the ropes when I got here, and she covered for me when I got sick that one time."

"Awww," Tahani coos, "is the vicious Eleanor Shellstrop making friends?"

"Shut up," Eleanor replies, throwing the Scorpi-ote hoodie at Tahani which earns her a laugh. "You and Chidi are the worst influences."

"An interesting perspective you have there, darling." She folds the jacket and tucks it close to her torso as she stands. "Anyhow, I need to go, loathe as I am to leave you."

"Sure," Eleanor says. She pulls her girlfriend down for a kiss. "Message me when you land, okay?"

"Of course. And every day after."

 


End file.
